Updated.What happens when cancer is found?

[pagan queen]

Might seem like a daft question but bare with me.
My mum is going for a scan tomorrow for what she thinks is Ovarian cysts. I have my suspicions, from her symptoms, that it may be cancer. I think her GP does too as she is having a CT scan and not the ultra sound.
What I need to know is, if they find evidence of cancer, will they tell her while she's there or will she be called back to be told at a later date after the scan has been examined?
The reason I ask is because I can't go with her and don't want her to be alone when she finds out. She will have my dad with her too and as most of you know he has dementia so will be no help to her.

[emma_mcraf]

I can only speak from my husband's cancer but he was sent for an ultrasound during his appointment with the urologist. They told him he had testicular cancer there and then.

I know someone who had an internal ultrasound as they suspected ovarian cancer. She was lucky she didn't have it and they were able to tell her during that appointment that they couldn't see any cancer, cysts or other growths.

When my husband had his annual CT scans as part of his oncology screening, he didn't get the CT results until the next appointment with his oncologist.
Hope it all goes okay for your mum. x

[pagan queen]

I've got this sick feeling in my stomach that my mum is going to find out she has cancer and have no one there for her. Will they send her home or will they start preparing her for any surgery? I have no idea what will happen. Her appointment is a 5pm and dad and she are catching the bus, It's a good 40 minute ride and I can't imagine what that will be like going home knowing you have cancer.
I just hope my suspicions are totally off the mark.

[emma_mcraf]

I hope your suspicions are off the mark too. Has she had a hysterectomy Wendy? Maybe she has symptoms of a prolapse?

My hubby was sent home after his diagnosis and his appointment for surgery was 2.5 weeks later. There was quite a bit to do within those two weeks as he needed a pre-op assessment, we visited the sperm bank (though never used it as my youngest came along naturally) and there were various other appointments to go to.
I can understand how hard this must be for you. I always feel the not-knowing is worse than knowing what you're facing. It may all be okay though and not anything serious. I won't bother telling you to try not to worry as that's impossible. Late appointments for this kind of thing make the day seem so long.

[kazzabb]

Is there any chance you could ring your own GP and ask him/her if it's likely your mum will get the results today. I thought that CT scans are done by a scan machine operator and the scans are pre-set, but that the results are interpreted by the medical specialist afterwards, and that's why you have to wait for the results. The ultrasound is normally done by the specialist, in real time, and I think that's how they can give the answers straight away, a bit like a foetal scan, the specialist needs to be the one who's doing the ultrasound so that if they can't see something very well, they can persevere and jig things around a bit to get a better picture.
I may be wrong but that's what happened in my father in law's case (prostate cancer). I went with him for all his appointments, but that was 5 years ago and things may have changed since then. I hope things are better than you anticipate.
Karen x

[pagan queen]

She had ovarian cysts removed when she was in her 40s. She has been saying for some 3 years or more that she thinks they are back but mum always has "something" wrong with her so we just thought she was trying to get attention as usual. The when dad had his hernia op she decided she needed to find out if she needed an op for her cysts. It was only when she told me her symptoms that I put 2 and 2 together and realised she could possibly have had cancer all this time.
She hasn't had a hysterectomy and still has her ovaries too. The thing with ovarian cancer is, there are no symptoms until stage 3/4 and all the things she describe are symptomatic of cancer. She doesn't have the internet so can't look it up and she has shown me how swollen and hard her abdomen is. She has no idea I suspect cancer and hasn't mentioned it herself.

[pagan queen]

I'm not really sure what kind of scan she is having, I just assume it's a CT scan as she said she's not allowed to eat or drink for 4 hour before so I know it's not an ultra sound as you have to drink loads.

It's just one thing after another this year, I think I'll cancel 2013 and go straight to 2014.

[emma_mcraf]

Any news Wendy? Thinking of you. x

[pagan queen]

Not yet Emma, the scan is tomorrow.

[Doodle-Bug]

MY hubby went for a camera up and down they found a tumour , we got the results and three weeks later it was successfully removed. They act fairly quickly hun xx